The way she responded to his observation about the chaise told him she had not been thinking about this question as fervently as he had. Ford had been fretting, earlier this week, over whether or not there would be a chaise — she, apparently, had never considered it until he'd pointed it out. Did that mean he had an answer to the question he'd kept himself from asking? He'd worried over the existence of the chaise because he had imagined a future where they didn't sleep together tonight and he needed alternative sleeping arrangements while he ceded the bed to her; the chaise was preferable to the floor. But if she hadn't thought of it, presumably she expected that they would be sleeping together?
He had not allowed himself any expectations on the subject, only nerves. He'd thought through it from every angle prior to tonight, because he couldn't prevent himself from worrying about it. He still didn't know why she'd told people she was engaged a month before their coatroom incident; it seemed entirely likely she was already pregnant. So he'd thought, at one point, that maybe he'd better not touch her until he knew for sure whether or not that was the case — but then he'd thought, well, what good would that be? With the rumors about them the way they were it wasn't as though he could have broken their engagement on the grounds that she'd been with somebody else, and now they were married; it was hardly going to make any difference now. So maybe it was better not to know — maybe better to do it, so that he could have a reasonable lie to tell himself if she did have a child seven months from now. If it wouldn't make any difference practically, why burden himself with the knowledge? But ultimately he recognized that it wasn't simply a decision he could make in a vacuum, to do it or not to do it. If she wasn't comfortable with it, he certainly had no desire to push the issue... so the ball had been in her court, and he hadn't allowed himself to suppose it would come down on one side or the other, which meant he'd had to fret about both eventualities.
But she didn't seem to recognize the significance of having a chaise; she was using it to take her shoes off. So either she expected him to be in the bed or she had not bothered to consider — but probably the former. So they were doing this, probably.
"Yeah," he said as he moved to the opposite edge of the room to remove his own shoes (leaning one hand against the wall, since she had the chaise). "You looked very pretty today."
He had not allowed himself any expectations on the subject, only nerves. He'd thought through it from every angle prior to tonight, because he couldn't prevent himself from worrying about it. He still didn't know why she'd told people she was engaged a month before their coatroom incident; it seemed entirely likely she was already pregnant. So he'd thought, at one point, that maybe he'd better not touch her until he knew for sure whether or not that was the case — but then he'd thought, well, what good would that be? With the rumors about them the way they were it wasn't as though he could have broken their engagement on the grounds that she'd been with somebody else, and now they were married; it was hardly going to make any difference now. So maybe it was better not to know — maybe better to do it, so that he could have a reasonable lie to tell himself if she did have a child seven months from now. If it wouldn't make any difference practically, why burden himself with the knowledge? But ultimately he recognized that it wasn't simply a decision he could make in a vacuum, to do it or not to do it. If she wasn't comfortable with it, he certainly had no desire to push the issue... so the ball had been in her court, and he hadn't allowed himself to suppose it would come down on one side or the other, which meant he'd had to fret about both eventualities.
But she didn't seem to recognize the significance of having a chaise; she was using it to take her shoes off. So either she expected him to be in the bed or she had not bothered to consider — but probably the former. So they were doing this, probably.
"Yeah," he said as he moved to the opposite edge of the room to remove his own shoes (leaning one hand against the wall, since she had the chaise). "You looked very pretty today."
Set by Lady!